Steam raked in nearly one billion dollars in 2010

Digital distribution may never win over the hardcore brick and mortar loyalists, but according to the videogame analyst firm Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC (FADE), it's paying off huge for Valve's online PC gaming service, Steam, which ended its 2010 year with roughly $1 billion dollars in estimated revenues.

According to FADE's 2010 report, Steam took in an estimated $970 million USD in combined sales, $213 million USD of which was earned during the 2010 holiday season. We're not sure how Valve head Gabe Newell celebrated this news, but we'd like to think the party looked something like this:

The report also listed Steam's top 10 bestselling titles; seven of which were developed by Valve itself. Despite its strong showing, however, it was Activision that beneffited most from the digital distribution platform thanks to its Call of Duty titles and expansion packs which took in roughly $153 million USD in gross sales.